


broken family portrait

by pandoracorn



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: (her name is Sumire tho and she's valid I love her), Angst, Gen, M/M, Sibling AU - Kaito/Kyouko, The Kizajin is implied. They're Gay and coping and so fucking valid, Unmentioned character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 14:43:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12412305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandoracorn/pseuds/pandoracorn
Summary: Jin felt his throat tighten and his mind tell him to stay put. He couldn't go in there - not in this state. Especially because… “How… how can I tell them their mother isn't coming home?”-a face had been burned out of the picture.





	broken family portrait

**Author's Note:**

> MY WIFI IS OUT AT HOME BUT I GOT SOOOO MUCH DONE I'M SO HAPPY!! HERE'S TO ME ACTUALLY FINISHING FICS
> 
> if you guys wanna see more sibling au stuff lemme know!! I love Kaito/Kyouko sibling fluff sm

The ride back from the hospital was a quiet one.

There was not a word muttered - or even a sound made at all - as they travelled down the quiet roads that seemed as dead as… well, now wasn’t the time to think about that. Especially since the tears had only just stopped.

It was coming, of course, and he knew that. He knew that the moment he got down on one knee and pulled out that lavender gemstoned ring that one day the apple of his eye would rot. But he still took her hand and kissed it gently and kissed away her happy tears as she slipped the ring on her pale finger. He made the last few years she had - coughing, spluttering and all - like she was already in heaven. At least, he hoped that.

The car pulled up in the yard and slowly went back to rest, and finally there was a voice.  
“We’re here.”  
Jin felt his throat tighten and his mind tell him to stay put. He couldn't go in there - not in this state. Especially because… “How… how can I tell them their mother isn't coming home?”  
The man sat in the driver’s seat didn't reply, but Jin saw him sigh and shake his head out of the corner of his eye, leaning further back into his seat. “I don't know, I couldn't tell ya in the slightest… why did this have to happen?”  
“Kizakura, please, this is no fault of your own.” His voice began shaking a little again, and as if on cue he felt a hand gently press against his arm in support. Tired indigo eyes looked up and met a gaze of concern, before smiling softly, if not weakly. “...I’m sorry, I…I have to keep it together. They should be asleep by now, so I can prepare this in the house over coffee.”  
Kizakura returned the smile with one in kind, gently patting his friend’s arm before undoing his seatbelt and opening the car door. Jin followed in kind, letting the cold winter air fill his lungs and almost bring him back to earth with the numbness.

After struggling with the keys for a minute or so, the front door to the Kirigiri household finally opened, the two men found themselves greeted by the kitchen light still on, and the gentle sound of boiling water from the kettle. Jin frowned slightly, slowly stepping in.  
“...Kyouko.” Though fatigued, his voice was stern, and he watched as the girl turned with a fearful expression, holding the cocoa jar in her hand as she sat upon the kitchen counter, the cupboard door mildly swinging, getting a little too close to her head sometimes.   
“D-Daddy… I didn't hear you come home.”  
“Shouldn't you be sleeping?”  
“I should, b-but…” she fell silent, glancing down the side of the counter, where it ended and a small corner was hidden. “Kaito-niisan…”  
A soft whine came from an unseen source, and Kyouko responded with a whimper.  
Jin sighed, and headed for the kitchen, taking note of the lack of footsteps that followed him. The boy hidden behind the counter had revealed himself, and helped his sister down from her kitchen counter throne. He looked like a scolded puppy with his tail between his legs, with big, sad eyes that watched as his father went to make himself coffee. Jin sighed softly at the mess on the counter - a cocoa bomb seemed to have exploded all over, even erupting onto the walls. He quickly grabbed a cloth and cleaning up the powder, quietly hushing Kaito as he tried to apologise, genuinely looking apologetic and, most of all, tired. Maybe he should put them to bed-

A glance to Kizakura told him that was the wrong choice.

After Jin had prepared four warm cups (two coffees, two hot chocolates, complete with cream and marshmallows, like any child would desire) and the four of them had sat down in the living room and stayed mostly silent. As it was revealed, Kaito did indeed keep his younger sister awake, and had planned to stay up and watch programs in the main room until 11, as Jin said he would be back by around 11:30. But he’d come home earlier than expected, while they were preparing to make a drink for themselves, with no idea how to work the kettle. At least they hadn't hurt themselves. It would make it easier to tell them their mother wouldn't be coming home anymore.

They passed out crying, and Jin decided to carry them to his bed that night, so they wouldn't wake up totally alone. With the two purple angels sound asleep in his arms as he turned towards the stairs, he took a glance back to the man sat staring at the coffee he’d barely touched. “...Kizakura?”  
“Huh?” Zoning back into reality, he looked up at the sound of his name. “Yeah?”  
“Would… would it be too much trouble for you to stay the night? I understand if you can't, of course-”  
“All I’d be doing is going back to an empty house, and that's somethin’ neither of us want. Of course I will.”  
Jin said nothing more, and instead smiled (apologetically? Thankfully? Not even he knew) before slowly walking up the stairs, taking care to be quiet as to not stir the children in his arms.

Jin returned downstairs a few minutes later, after grabbing a plush for Kyouko and tucking both her and her older brother into the double bed that he himself used to share with… well, her, the woman who was no longer here, but would never stop loving. He shut the front room door and ran a hand through his hair, sighing out of tiredness and thankfulness that the mess was over and done with.  
“...I’m proud of ya, buddy.”  
“Huh?” He looked up, noticing Kizakura had moved from his seat, frowning when he saw the open alcohol cupboard - Jin forgot he’d told the man where the blasted key was, dammit - and the missing whiskey bottle from the shelf, which now was held, open top and all, in the other man’s hand.   
“Listen. I can't say I know anything about how you’re feeling, but what I do know is that, the entire drive from the hospital? You were tense. Didn't look up once, didn't fiddle with the radio or ramble about your kids. It was… kinda terrifying, if i’m gonna be honest.” Kizakura forced out a laugh, before it dissolved out into silence and he took a swig of whiskey. “...When you came down those stairs, you finally weren't as tense anymore. You’re already back on track. I'm happy for you… and for the youngsters too. Death’s already taken their mom, I wouldn't want grief to take their dad, too.”  
Jin stared for a moment, before looking down at his hands, which were covered in cocoa powder from the mess he’d swept off of the counter earlier… and he, too, forced himself to laugh a little, though it was the lightest he’d laughed since he’d heard the monotone drone from the heart monitor all the way back at the hospital. “...Kizakura? Mind grabbing the glasses from the top shelf-”  
“Of the cupboard above the shelf? I thought you’d never ask.”  
Jin watched the back of his friend turn into the tiny kitchen just as he left, brushing his hands against one another to make the last of the powdery mess fall onto the hardwood floor like chocolate snow. He quickly took a seat on the sofa, and started thinking to himself, losing himself very quickly.

With his wife gone, how was he going to spoil his children all by himself? ...Of course, he’d think of a way.


End file.
